Diablo III Looked Heavenly in 2005

[timeadept]

would it still be worth it to throw out a nearly finished game to rebuild it from the ground up?

You think that those screenshots look "nearly finished"?

I think that it is a good thing that Blizzard chooses when their game is ready to be released, and not the fans.

Idk, i think when the article says that they had a working version of the game then it means that the game was nearly finished.

Working just means playable for testing. Not at all ready for release. God of War had a working version where all you could see were wire frames and areas without textures.

I honestly don't know much about making games, but textures seem like the kind of thing that are easy to add on last. I kinda think a lot has to go into a game before you start pasting the textures on.

 

[stl520nlv]

i just simply don't care for diablo anymore and that's all there is to it with me. diablo II was awesone but 10+ years for the next game? come on, i barely even play pc games anymore why would better graphics make me want to play it now?

 

[Exort]

My thoughts on Diablo 3 have largely been that they are missing the point. I have never been especially fond of the change in art style and atmosphere. The first two games, while crude by current standards, were VERY dark in their theme and style. The whole vibe was differant from most other fantasy games out there, and had a distinct personality from their work on WoW and things like that. What's more the fiction it inspired was equally grim.

This seems like an attempt to turn "Diablo" cartoony to give it more of a "Warcraft" type vibe. I'd imagine their thought process is based around "Warcraft" having a ridiculous number of online players, including some which are children. Doing an updated version of Diablo might offend parents or even a general userbase that tends to associate Blizzard with a specific cartoony style. Even the darkest moments being mitigated by the constant humor, puns, and pop culture referances. If you have a gnome in your party, just by looking at them it sort of mitigates the effect of facing an Illidan or Arthas.

It might be a good game, but I'm not a huge fan of the new vibe.

No, not really, Diablo 3 is aiming for M.
Anyways. The new art is cause by the fact it is made by different teams.
Diablo 1 and 2 is made by Blizzard North. New Diablo 3 is made by a new team in Blizzard Irvine. The big four of Blizzard North already left at 2003. Without the heads of the project, Blizzard decide to cancel the project (and close Blizzard North) in 2005, and restarted it in Blizzard Irvine (reason of restart seems to be it was not the quailty Blizzard expected, which is not a big suprise since the key employees left 2 years ago).

 

[The_Yeti]

All this ignorant babble about it becoming WoW'd or kiddy-fun-land because of the color tone, I have played both WoW and the original Diablo's from start till now and i can tell you just from watching all of the media they've released on their site, http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/ that all of this opinion based commentary is pure malarkey. WoW from vanilla to current day still doesn't have graphics that flow this functionally, Diablo 2 was in fact 2D and therefor was basically a side-scroller pasted on the most beautiful gore'n'goth-esque pictures, with a bad@ss soundtrack. Diablo3 is still Diablo2 in every way, with the exception that a third dimention caused some rendering to include bloody light, rather then 5 angled pictures on every creature that barely budged to create motion. The only reason the gore'n'goth aspect is still half baked is that its still in freaking production, a brighter color tone just means they'll need to paint the walls twice as thick with blood and corpses before sending it out.

Also, they've still got the Bad@ss music.

 

[Random Fella]

Blizzard sucks at releasing games when I want them too... They said D3 would come out in early 2009, then late... Then 2010 and now late 2011? They're a$$holes.

 

[kouriichi]

I woulda bought it.
I think it looks passable for 05' graphics.
And the more diablo the better.
As far as im conserned, games like diablo will never go the way of Guitar Hero.

 

[Exort]

Blizzard sucks at releasing games when I want them too... They said D3 would come out in early 2009, then late... Then 2010 and now late 2011? They're a$$holes.

How does not releasing games earn them more money?
Also they never said any release date at all or even promise any year to release.

 

[Void(null)]

Oh hey, at one point it looked like a Diablo Game instead of Isometric WoW.

As an old school Diablo fan I am very much prepared for disappointment, while trying to keep a glimmer of hope. I guess everything is really conjecture and we will all have to see.

If Diablo 3 is a huge disappointment there is always Grim Dawn. [http://www.grimdawn.com/index.php]

To be pedantic, technically it's not isometric, it's just a fixed camera angle. An isometric projection has no perspective. And to not be pedantic but just my opinion, I think Torchlight is the WoW-version of Diablo, while D3 is more like halfway between D2 and TL visually.

While not truly Axonometric projection, 3D Isometric is also used to describe any game with a fixed viewing angle of 120 degrees on at least two of its three coordinate axes even if it is being rendered in full 3D. Civilization IV, Titan Quest and even Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light are prime examples of this technique in action, as would it seem with Diablo III.

Sure its fo-isometric but its a hearkening back to simpler times.

 

[Random Fella]

Blizzard sucks at releasing games when I want them too... They said D3 would come out in early 2009, then late... Then 2010 and now late 2011? They're a$$holes.

How does not releasing games earn them more money?
Also they never said any release date at all or even promise any year to release.

Well the game shop did :/ I'm still going to be angry at them though rrr D:<

 

[Syntax Error]

I don't know if this has been said but I'm sure someone will release a mod in time that changes the graphics to look like Diablo 2, at least i hope so

If Blizzard keeps up with their Battle.net and over all design philosophies with Diablo 3 as they have with Starcraft 2, you can expect there to not be any mods whatsoever. The people doing them would have to recode huge chunks of the game to even begin making those.

Diablo 2 wasn't even supposed to be moddable (According to BrotherLaz, anyway. Look up in the MedianXL forums to see what I mean).

Oh my god, people... Not this again.

This effin graphics discussion is driving me insane already. Read this, please.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/07/31/diablo-iii-designer-talks-colors/
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/08/04/diablo-iii-designer-turns-tables/

It's outrageous (and nearly IMPOSSIBLE) for someone from the outside of the game's dev circle to possibly state the whatnots of a decision of the caliber of art direction, for there are many more elements involved than you can possibly conceive! These people are paid to do this, and make a lot of effort to make the best decisions they can.

So stop trolling and just wait for the thing to release. If even then you don't like it, don't buy it, and thats it.

I hope to god that there's a secret "Rainbows and Unicorns" level just to spite the art trolls. Who evidently forgot that there's a very bright desert just outside Lut Gholein, or a very bright jungle outside of Kurast. Or a very bright siege/mountain area right outside of Harrogath.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

You know, every time I sort of forget about Diablo 3, someone posts news and screenshots that remind me how goddamn awesome it's going to be. I was a big fan of Diablo 1, but had already mostly moved on to console gaming when Diablo 2 rolled around. Never really got a chance to play it until 2008-ish.

 

[Angerwing]

They'd show you dark, gritty and intense. Now we're getting "Tuckahoe Fun Land, the magic factory where dreams are made."

Spoiler: Yes, clearly Tuckahoe Fun Land, the magic factory where dreams are made.

There's a level of hyperbole there. I was making a reference to How I Met Your Mother in that one, so take that with a grain of salt. I for one don't really mind. I've clocked over 2 months played on WoW, and just as long on Warcraft 3, and never really got bored with the style. I'm mostly baffled why they turned to a softer, lighter tone in comparison to D2, but not really upset. I'll still get it, and I still love Blizzard.

 

[Brotherofwill]

This is why I never bother trying to discuss jack about Diablo 3. Mention it once for ANY reason, and the graphics haters will descend with both feet, no matter what the topic was before.
Though at least this topic WAS about the graphics to begin with; but still no less annoying to sift through the comments.

Oh hey, only three colors and tons of health potions. Just what the Diablo fanbabies wanted!

I'm probably the only Diablo fan out there who would appreciate the diversity.
It's entirely possible to make a twisted/scary/depressing variant of an environment with bright cheery colors/high saturation; American McGee's: Alice pulled this off perfectly if one needs an example.

As long as they keep the Gothic Architecture I'll be happy.

I agree in principle but Alice was a bit more sureal horror and I'm not sure that's a good way to go.

Same with me about the architecture. Aslong as they have the gothic feel, sharp lines and high arcs, then I'm happy. What I've seen so far I found fairly mixed. Hit and miss. Especially those retarded giant cleavers that go up and down. C'mon man, what is this? Skeletor's lair?

Grim Dawn. [http://www.grimdawn.com/index.php]

OMG! What is this? Forged in God's very flames!

Grim Dawn is an ARPG made by some former members of Iron Lore, the Developers behind Titan Quest. After Iron Lore went down Crate managed to get the rites to use the Iron Lore Titan Quest Engine to create their own game and the rest is history... actually none of it has happened yet and the game is in pre-pre-pre-pre alpha but you get the point.

Do mine eyes tell me lies? A new Titan's Quest game?

Titan's QUest was really good. Played it when it came out, recently got it through a gaming mag again, it's still fun to play. It's still way too slow to play and takes a little long but other than that they have all the fundamentals down.

I could see this being pretty good.

 

[Angerwing]

y is kratos in one of those D3 screenshots?

Oh, the Barbarian has been around for quite a bit longer than Kratos.

Spoiler: Barbarian

Spoiler: Kratos

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

its a joke as in the 5th picture of the new D3 looks like a typical kratos pose. sheesh.

p.s. wtf with the giant picture links?

Yeah, there is a huge similarity between the two. From what I can see, Kratos may have been inspired by the Barbarian. But yeah, I knew you were joking

And sorry about the epic link. That picture showed a better comparison than most.

 

[jovack22]

the game looks better now

i'm sick of 'the game used to be so dark'

look at diablo 2, the game was full of brightness and colour, true there were many caves/dungeons, but i'm sure the same will be true of diablo 3

in a game like diablo 3, i'm not playing to get scared because it's not scary, so i want to be able to see what's going on (remember maphack in diablo 2, did you ever enable the darkness again once you had everything revealed?)

 

[Rblade]

the game looks better now

i'm sick of 'the game used to be so dark'

look at diablo 2, the game was full of brightness and colour, true there were many caves/dungeons, but i'm sure the same will be true of diablo 3

in a game like diablo 3, i'm not playing to get scared because it's not scary, so i want to be able to see what's going on (remember maphack in diablo 2, did you ever enable the darkness again once you had everything revealed?)

exactly, they aren't going to give out screenshots of diablo's sanctum. it will be dark. I can't wait to see the first cutscene of diablo 3 rolling across the screen. The portal scene with diablo, mephisto and tal rasha still rates as one of my most epic cutscenes together with thrall and grom vs manaroth. what do you know, both blizz. It will be epic, we will like it.

 

[Baalthazaq]

Remember when Diablo II was all dark scary gothic horror dungeons and nothing else? As someone who played past the first act... no.

I remember: Forest (Blue zombies), caves (red imps, green zombies), crypts (bright blue demon women), a church (Bright green/purple spiders, though goatmen too), a brightly lit desert (the greyest creatures in the game), the sewers (green zombies), the harem (Bright red multi-armed things. Multicoloured skeleton mages), the maggot lairs (bright blue beetles), the brightly lit escheresque level (More dark creatures. Brown/black goatmen and ...vampires?), the tombs (skeletons, usually fairly muted admittedly), a jungle (midgets!, bright green frogs, brightly coloured zealots), the tombs (with usually, admittedly mostly dark creatures on dark backdrops), heaven/hell lit up with endless lava, brightly coloured demons, mount arreat (more brightly lit backdrop, more dingy brown creatures again), with darker areas having brighter creatures again, with the exception being those skeletons that kept getting back up.


That was Diablo II. How the hell it managed to meet the standards of the people complaining I'll never know.

Seriously [http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/4105/screenshot044u.jpg]. It wasn't dark and dingy the whole way through, and the auras were colourful as hell. (Salvation anybody? Multicoloured balls of light? The skeletal mages you could summon?)

The creatures were ghosts (Bright blue on dark backdrops), bright red skeletons, bright green/blue demons, bosses were often a single interchangeable one coloured blob. (Red Diablo was quickly followed in harder modes by... what was it green and blue?)

All of that was to avoid the look and problems of the player created comparisons for "How DIII should look".

What about those colourless muted player abilities? Poison Nova? [http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/5860/459460-diablo2_4_super.jpg] Baal's bright yellow attacks? Giggling midgets standing on each others shoulders?

Come on guys. It's just unreasonable to take the darkest parts of wow (the throne room in Lordareon) and compare it to Diablo III to show they're the same. The throne room itself, isn't exactly how WoW looks [http://www.blogcdn.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/2007/01/hawkstrider_screen.jpg].

EDIT: Whoops. Forgot the cow level.

 

[Israirie]

Man, this depresses me greatly. I would have much, much rather had the old style.
Keep in mind this was back in 2005 and the game was incomplete. So shit like nice shadows and proper icons were unlikely to be in the working build.

New style just looks like WoW. Everything's all soft glow and made out of foam. Diablo isn't supposed to be a mystical journey of heroism with dangerous beasts and glowing treasures, it's supposed to be a hellish descent into madness with shit straight out of Geiger's Necronomicon. Intimidate me. Unhinge me. Get rid of the rainbow vision. Bring back the halls of the blind and talk to me about rotting eyeballs. Nail people to the walls naked and throw childrens' corpses all around. Just give me a vision of hell I can actually believe; fat guys stitched together and full of worms are from the nightmare before christmas, not hell. And the siege demon is goddamn pure comedy.

And just because D2 had bright colors doesn't mean D3 has to be fairy land. There's a significant difference in atmosphere and anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy. The demon hunter wears high heels for god's sake. What is this? Bayonetta?
I'd much rather the whole thing be closer to the original (best) Diablo anyway.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

While not truly Axonometric projection, 3D Isometric is also used to describe any game with a fixed viewing angle of 120 degrees on at least two of its three coordinate axes even if it is being rendered in full 3D. Civilization IV, Titan Quest and even Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light are prime examples of this technique in action, as would it seem with Diablo III.

Sure its fo-isometric but its a hearkening back to simpler times.

Yeah, I know, and everyone knows what you mean when you say it, so it's easier to just call it isometric even if it's wrong. I just sometimes fail to catch my inner pedant and tell it to shut up before it corrects stuff like that. Heh.

Now that you mention it, though, it's a funny coincidence that the things I've been playing most lately are Titan Quest and Civ4 (and I guess AI War, which is just 2D sprites and not even any fake 3D going on).

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Do mine eyes tell me lies? A new Titan's Quest game?

Titan's QUest was really good. Played it when it came out, recently got it through a gaming mag again, it's still fun to play. It's still way too slow to play and takes a little long but other than that they have all the fundamentals down.

I could see this being pretty good.

I'm not sure I'd say too slow to play in terms of gameplay (although the base run speed is painful until you get some +movement stuff), but it does take too long to get a new character to the point where it can do interesting things, and it's way too long overall. I can never make it through the entire thing again after having finished it once. I always get tired halfway through and wish someone would make a mod to remove about half of the game and scale the difficulty/experience gain accordingly.

What does make it at least somewhat more fun for me is the xMax mod, which basically increases enemy spawns (including bosses!) to the largest amount the game/maps can handle, which is generally three of every boss and anywhere from what seems like two to five times as many normal enemies, depending on the area. Less walking around with nothing to do, more stabbing stuff, somewhat quicker leveling, and it's a bit harder. It's a little chaotic sometimes, and it changes the usefulness of some skills because multi-target/AoE stuff is more valuable, but if your computer can handle it, it's fun. I pretty much can't go back to the normal game anymore after using it (and the fan patch, which fixes a bunch of bugs).